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Friday, March 28, 2008

EBird requests that birders seek and report migrating Rusty Blackbirds during the week of April 1-7. The data will help answer what habitats Rusty Blackbirds need for spring migration. The species has suffered a severe population crash - as much as 85%-98% over four decades.

NASA wants to build a launchpad for commercial spacecraft on one of two 200-acre sites. The first includes parts of Merritt Island NWR and Cape Canaveral National Seashore; the second includes parts of Merritt Island NWR and other valuable coastal scrub habitat outside of it.

Cornell and Audubon have published the highlights from the 2008 Great Backyard Bird Count. Volunteers set a new record for participation by submitting 85,725 checklists. The count recorded 635 species, including 12 new species: Masked Duck, Arctic Loon, Scarlet Ibis, Northern Jacana, Black-tailed Gull, Ivory Gull, Great Skua, Yellow-naped Parrot, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Akohekohe, and Chestnut Munia.

A proposed cormorant cull near Point Pelee may be delayed because of problems with the public comment period. Public comments on the draft management plan were due by April 7, even though the draft plan has not been released to the public.

Governor Sebelius of Kansas vetoed a bill that would create two new coal-fired power plants.

Plastics in the ocean concentrate toxins, which they release when eaten by a marine organism.

A federal appeals board ordered the EPA to set a timeline for reducing nitrogen outflow from the Blue Plains Sewage Plant in DC and include the timeline in the plant's permit. Nitrogen pollution causes algae blooms and dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay.